Food, glorious food

Culinary culture in Turkey, Greece and Sicily – with Peter Sommer Travels

From tea breaks with a goatherd and wine tastings on a volcano, to cooking lessons with Turkish villagers and visits to food markets, Peter Sommer Travels’ expertise extends to cuisine and cooking, as well as archaeology and culture. Food plays a key part in all their escorted tours, whether designated gastronomic tours or more general itineraries, providing an additional way to experience the rich local ways of life.

Explore the culinary culture of these lands, rich in both history and foodie experiences, on the following expert-led tours to Turkey, Greece and Sicily:

A gulet cruise for gourmets, Turkey

This gourmet adventure along the Turkish coast blends gastronomic experiences with historical sites. Led by an archaeologist guide who’s as keen on his food as he is his archaeology, you’ll travel along the coast, stopping to enjoy intimate foodie experiences. Have tea with a local goatherd, bake bread the traditional way, cook and eat with villagers, help to prepare classic dishes with the onboard cook and forage for foods such as wild samphire and other plants and herbs. Other highlights include hiking along ancient tracks to the city of Lydae, exploring the fortress at Loryma and visiting the beautifully-preserved ancient settlement of Knidos. Meanwhile, there’s ample time to swim and soak up the surroundings.

The Gastronomic Gulet Cruise costs from £2,125 pp (two sharing) and includes seven nights’ full-board accommodation on a high-end gulet, transfers and expert-guiding. Flights extra. Departs 24 May and 20 September 2014.

A Greek feast, Greece

One of the highlights of travelling with two expert Athens-based archaeologist guides is that they can take you to all their favourite tavernas and restaurants. Highlights of this brand-new city tour include a seaside lunch on the island of Aigina, a rooftop meal overlooking Athens and a tasting at one of the city’s sophisticated new wine bars, highlighting the veritable revolution that has affected Greek wine-making in the last decades. Sample specialities such as feta, graviera and mizythra (aromatic cheeses), apaki, siglino and loukaniko (cured meats and sausages) and kakavia (the rich fish soup of the Aegean Sea) as well as tasting delicious olives and oils. In between these superb meals, explore the city, its surroundings and the many archaeological wonders: from the Agora and the New Acropolis Museum, to Marathon and Athens’ old town, Plaka.

Exploring Athens: Archaeology, Culture and Food costs from £2,345 pp (two sharing) and includes seven nights’ full-board accommodation, transfers, all entrance fees and expert guiding. Flights extra. Departs 1 June 2014.

Taste your way around Sicily, Italy

Predominantly focused on Sicily’s east coast, this foodie tour highlights the impact that the island’s eclectic history had on its food. Spend the week feasting on Sicilian produce enjoying numerous tastings, from cheese and chocolate to olives and honey, alongside wines produced from grapes grown on Mount Etna’s slopes. Dine in a restaurant at a renowned herb farm, sit down to a tasting dinner near Marzameni and say your goodbyes at a farewell dinner in Taormina, within sight of Mount Etna’s often-glowing peak. The three-centre holiday bases itself on Ortigia, the historical centre of Syracuse, at a delightful agriturismo inland, which acts as the perfect base to explore Ragusa and the Necropolis of Pantalica, one of Sicily’s UNESCO Heritage Sites, with its rock-cut chamber tombs. The trip ends a beautiful boutique hotel in Taormina.

The Gastronomic Tour of Sicily costs from £2,795 pp (two sharing) and includes seven nights’ B&B accommodation, ten other meals, transfers and expert guiding. Flights extra. Departs 27 September 2014.

For further information about Peter Sommer Travels, or to speak to an expert, please call 01600 888 220 (www.petersommer.com). 

ENDS – 16 April 2014

Press: For more information, quotes, high-res photography or to discuss press trips, please contact Helena Hamlyn or Julia Farish at Travel PR, tel: 020 8891 4440, email: h.hamlyn@travelpr.co.uk or j.farish@travelpr.co.uk.